Hong Kong : Summer Stopover

2013 July.

I had a great time in Hong Kong during summer when I was there to attend Carlsberg’s Where’s The Party? Hong Kong. Thanks to Mr. Soren the MD of Carlsberg Hong Kong and China region for inviting me over. It was a n impromptu and short trip so I didn’t really have time to do any research before I took off. I just packed and go. This is a simple photo post. Enjoy.

I took Cathay Pacific and I think it’s really worth it. My package includes return flights from KL to HK with complimentary addition 10kg luggage allowance on the return flight, 4 nights hotel stay in Ibis Hotel Central & Sheung-Wan, airport shutter to the hotel and a half day city tour. All these for RM 2,125.00

Above : Stonecutter bridge from Tsing Sha Highway

It’s amazing to see how many containers there are at the port at Stonecutter Island. If you wanna know how well the country’s economy is doing, go look at the activities at the port. If it’s full of containers coming in and out it usually means the economy is moving well.

I had the whole 30 seater bus all to myself. It’s nice that they didn’t make me wait until the bus is full to get moving. It’s the first time seeing with my own eyes how closely packed the apartments are in HK.

Finally my room in Ibis Hotel Central & Sheung-Wan.

View from my room through the green tinted window. That is actually Tsim Sha Tsui Kowloon Ferry Pier. Avenue of Stars is actually blocked by the building on the right of this pix.

Internet stations at Central train station. That’s very useful.

Central neighborhood.

I met up with a friend for lunch and she brought me to this famous restaurant that serves really good roast pork and duck.

Siew yuk.

Roast duck.

Roast piglet.

Trams are still widely used in HK. Some of these trams are as old as a hundred years.

Some Hongkie chicks for you guys.

Look at the size of that thing!!

Stalls in the street market of Mong Kok.

Uncles playing mah jong at the steps of a pedestrian bridge in Mong Kok.

This is a pedestrian bridge that connects multiple streets in Prince Edward. Really long.

This is a gathering ground for all the foreign maids during their off days.

They would bring their own meals and have a picnic here the whole day while catching up with other maids.

The grey line represent the overhead pedestrian walkway that connects to multiple streets in Mong Kok.

Sai Yeung Chow Street market.

HK feels very cluttered.

But it’s a shopping heaven.

Mong Kok is where you go if you’re a shoe lover.

All sorts of shoes are available here and it’s pretty cheap. I won’t say it’s like 30% cheaper then Kuala Lumpur but you’ll definitely find designs that are not available in Kuala Lumpur. So it’s worth the buy.

Special edition and limited edition Converse

Limited and special edition New Balance too

Gigantic sotong (squid) the size of a big chicken.

This is Mei Tan who’s been living and working in HK for a few years. I’ve known Mei since she was working for Time Out KL. She’s now with Time Out HK. Mei Tan is the person you wanna ask or need a personal gourmet tour. She knows every corner of HK where the best food can be found.

There’re always people everywhere in HK.

And signboards are everywhere !!

Hello Kitty

Kitty Opera

Mango sago dessert

This is a famous dessert place called Honeymoon Dessert in Lamgham place. It’s packed! They’ll try to squeeze as many people as possible into each table.

I think this is 1/3 scale of the actual size Zaku.

The detailing on this Gundam is not as amazing as the 1/1 scale 18 meter tall Gundam I’ve seen in Tokyo. But it’s good enough.

Dumplings in Central area which are different from what we get in KL. Their dumplings are really a huge ball of meat or prawn wrapped inside.

Space is a constraint in most places like HK. This wanton restaurant designed their tables to have slim drawer at the side to store the utensils. Pretty handy.

Early morning ride to work. In HK, it’s either you walk, cab to work or

Take a tram or a bus, other than the subway.

I was told by my hotel receptionist that I should try the dim sum next to my hotel in Sheung-Wan so I went over there for breakfast.

Since I can’t really speak cantonese, I didn’t bother to ask what this is. All the workers at the dim sum restaurant are uncle and aunties who doesn’t speak english. So I just order by sight.

Even the patrons of this place are mostly old people.

This is how they serve you chinese tea. The tea leaf are loose in the tea bowl. They’ll pour hot water into it.

Close the lid and pour the tea into your tea cup.

And they refill your tea bowl with hot water again. It’s pretty messy and your table top gets wet due to the hot water. So all the table top are made of glass.

This is how thick the tea is.

“Siew mai…. Siew mai….”

Egg tarts is a specialty in HK. A must have. Yummie!!

I definitely feel very young in this place. LOL.

HK is actually a very safe place I was told. Shops just leave their items outside the shop and not worry about it being carried away. In Malaysia, all these goods will disappear in a second.

In a country like Singapore, the authority conduct routine exercises in random public places where someone will leave a bag or a parcel unattended and the authority will monitor how fast before the public report it as suspicious items, in case it’s a bomb. In KLIA while I was waiting at the boarding hall I saw a TV ad by the Malaysian gov “Welcome to the safest country in Asia, Malaysia”. I nearly choked. Well, in such instance if someone were to leave a bomb in a bag unattended in public place in Malaysia, we don’t have to worry much about it getting exploded there. That item will be snatch off (robbed) the hand even before that person intend to leave it there to ignite! LOL. Welcome to Malaysia.

Who’s the boss?

Keeping watch over the food on sale.

While the privileged enjoy a nice warm cup of tea in a nice restaurant in Central HK whilst thinking of what they are gonna do for the rest of the day….

There are some who sit by the five foot way wondering where and how they are gonna get their next meal.

Even in the central business district of Central, you’ll see goods being transported by foot. It’s a common sight in HK.

Tram. A very cheap and efficient way to get around and sight seeing.

Flower transporter.

Delivery of goods are transported on foot with a small trolley.

A retail staff from Chanel checking the condition of the rain deciding if she should make a run for it.

Summer downpour.

Rain or shine we’ll get it there.

Even company such as DHL deliver their parcels on foot within the city. A DHL staff will wait outside the ticketing carousal at the subway station and when the other DHL staff arrive with the parcel, it’s passed over to the one outside. Without exiting the station, he’ll take the train back to the DHL distribution center and another DHL staff will pass him another parcel to be delivered to another subway station. It goes on.

China made iPhones being sold on the streets in Central.

Hongkie can be fashionably bright and colorful.

How short is short? Wow!

This is a famous beef noodle place. A narrow corner shop with people queueing till a few shop lots away. Locals and tourist alike, they come and feed themselves to satisfaction here.

It’s a very healthy dish. Clear soup with beef and noodle accompanied by fresh lettuce served on the side.

Located in Gough Street in Sheung-Wan, it can be pretty hard to find if you are not familiar with Hong Kong.

How small is small? Mobile phone repair booth on the street.

This is the Hong Kong Heritage Museum located far from the city center. About 30 minutes train ride up north to Hong Kong new territories. There’s a reason I came all the way up here.

Mah jong uncles passing time at the back of the museum.

Now this is the reason I came all the way up here! The Bruce Lee Kung Fu Art & Life special exhibition. A limited time only exhibition where everything about Ah Loong is exhibited here.

When I said everything I meant everything. From his school cert to his personal notes and love letters to his wife written when he was on set.

Deym! I wanna kick as high as Ah Loong. LOL.

Back at Sheung-Wan people are burning offerings as it’s hungry ghost month.

Sheung-Wan is a place where you can find all sorts of traditional medicine goods. You can find all sorts of weird stuff for your health, like this dried up flying lizard?

A view from my hotel. Look at how densely packed the place is.

Night view of Stonecutter Bridge.

Hong Kong Central from Avenue of Stars.

Myself, Mei Tan, Frances, Gary.

And the bald guy himself.

Famous wantan mee in Jordan.

Can you see the 2 huge prawns?

Chives

Mei ordering more food for us.

Right after having wantan mee for dinner, Mei brought us next door for the next course. Literally next door of the wantan mee shop to a famous shop called Australian Dairy Company. Yes the name sounds very western but they use the dairy products from Kowloon. Nothing Aussie. LOL.

Tada! The famous mouth watering toast and scrambled eggs with milk tea on the side.

This is the best milk tea I ever had.

Mei Tan searching on her GPS for the next shop she’s gonna bring us to eat. Yes round 3.

We took the subway and headed off to Causeway Bay.

Wow, that’s so pink!

Condense milk and butter toast bun.

Beef tendon mee.

We ate till we gave up. And I took the last train back to my hotel. Train in HK and Japan are like a mile long. And this is how they look when they are empty.

Empty streets in Shueng-Wan.

Are the cabbies all living together?

Guide dog & owner.

I wanted to get some Bruce Lee t-shirt for my dad who’s a Bruce Lee fan so I went back to Mong Kok the morning before I left HK. But too bad the market only opens in the evening. Sad! Well my dad looks a bit like Bruce Lee when he was in his 20s.

So this is how the market looks like when it’s closed. Although this is HK, a lot of the stalls seems to be run by Banglas or middle eastern.

Magazine booth by the road side. You can find alls sorts of magazines here. From the goodie to the badie.

Upholding the law. I was observing this cop for a while. He’s actually observing the traffic and cars in details. This is upholding the law. Unlike in Malaysia the cops are upholding “kopi-O” and “teh tarik”.

I met up with Mei one last time before I head off to the airport. She took me to this place in Hennessy road in Wan Chai.

Founded late in the Qing dynasty by a Teochew family in Guangdong. It later moved to Hong Kong in the late 20th century and ran their business in Heard street in Wan Chai as an open air stall. Michelin Guide flagged this place “Highly Recommended”. This is truly save the best for last.